Orb Sceptre Throne: Novels of the Malazan Empire, Book 4

Orb Sceptre Throne, my latest foray into the world of Malazan, will sit right next to Stonewielder in my mental rankings at a snug 3.5 stars.OST takes place after the events in Toll the Hounds, and explores the aftermath those events caused in the City of Blue Flame, Darujhistan. It answers a lot of questions that I had while reading Toll. Even some questions that I'd forgotten I had were brought to light and expanded upon, which was nice and is sort of what ICE has been doing this entire series. In true Malazan fashion however, questions remain.As is always the case on my return visits to this world, it was nice to see some familiar faces. The Krul's Bar Bridgeburners, Kruppe, Rallick Nom, Traveller, Caladan Brood, Torvald Nom, Kiska, Leff and Scorch (two of my favorites), and a host of new characters as well. On occasion I think that ICE can't quite keep up with the precedent Erikson has set with some of these characters (Kruppe comes to mind), but nevertheless it is fun to read about them.Like Stonewielder there were some sections of the story that I enjoyed quite a bit (the Seguleh/Moranth plot line for example), and others that sort of just fell flat. I maintain the opinion that ICE would benefit from cutting his viewpoint character down. By a lot. He switches POV so often that things can end up feeling rushed or sloppy. Not always. Sometimes he does have some very compelling moments in which he flips from one viewpoint to another (the charge comes to mind, readers will know). But nonetheless, I think his stories would benefit from a more focused view. I also still feel the need to comment on ICE's need for another round of editing/proofreading. This is something I've mentioned before in a review of one of these books, and the problem is back in force with OST. I'm not sure if it is unique to the Kindle edition (I don't see why it would be) or what, but there are too many instances of missing words or spelling/grammatical errors. A few here and there is okay, and not very surprising, but there were enough here to make me notice. And that shouldn't happen.Complaints aside, Orb Sceptre Throne is a fun story in the Malazan series, ending in a convergence worthy of the name. The Seguleh story was by far my favorite, and I'm really hoping to read more about that in the final two books.

Esslemont in his previous books has already proven himself a capable author and worthy to write in the Malazan universe. "Orb Sceptre Throne" does not contain the scope and compexity of "Return of the Crimson Guard" nor does it touch upon the world development seen in "Stoneweilder"—two benchmarks of his works I've read so far—but in the end it is still a Malazan book, and that means action, literary prose, prominent characters not typical to fantasy (women and non-European based ethnicities and cultures) and generally just a great, engaging read with lines from the book capable of making you laugh and cry at the same time. The story focuses upon the city of Darujhistan and finally brings to light details on the mysterious Seguleh that any Malazan reader has been craving since perhaps Erikson's "Memories of Ice" released back in 2001. If you like Malazan books, there is no reason not to read it. If you don't like Malazan books, then you have a completely different problem.

ICE is getting better manipulating the Malazan characters and lore. His attempt to weave divergent story lines wrapped up a little too neatly. With 18 books and counting every character did not have to wind up in the same climactic scene.I enjoyed the unveiling of many ideas from previous novels, and the first real explanation of the Seguleh.My biggest problem with the book was a sudden, inexcusable lack of editing at the end. Nearly every chapter through the book's final quarter seemed to include jarring mistakes with misspellings or omissions. I'm usually not a stickler for grammatical mistakes but it actually became distracting.

As I've read the ICE novels, I've noticed the plot can get lost in a sea of everything happening at once and people seem to get where they need to go whether or not I know what's going on. The final big battle scene was just a cluster of action with out a lot of direction. There is a bit too much of the kind of scene where one character says something like " I knew it, my suspicions are correct" about the main plot mystery, and another character interacts with them and they both say mono syllabic statements and none of the mystery is revealed to the reader. I mean, I guess the mask was jaghut in origin? The tyrant was a jaghut? IDK it's not clearly revealed. Overall I enjoy the world building, but for the most part you're going to have to have a few MBotF books around as reference.

FINALLY....finally ICE writes a book I really liked. I feel like he wasn't trying to be Steve Erikson this time around. For me it was definitely the best of his books.I loved that OST was about Darujhistan (my favorite location in the series). I loved learning more about the Seguleh, and the Moranth I loved getting to see inside Moon's Spawn. It was nice to see Dassem and Brood again - even if it was only briefly.I agree with many of the complaints that people have had about the book - especially about the ending being rushed. I feel like Caladan Brook was on the sidelines the entire book - I would have liked to see more of him.I also thought the ending involved the Tyrant and how he's brought down was a bit ridiculous. Regardless of that, I really liked the book. Although it didn't have the emotional depth that SE's books have.

Ian C Esselmont has done an admirable job of peering into the deliberately impenetrable mists of the Malazan world (nearly twenty books and we still don't have a name), and of telling coherent storylines within it, something that would challenge any author, particularly when the other writer of this world is as deliberately obtuse with his world building as Erikson is. Drawing upon Erikson's work, Esselmont has managed to tell some excellent stories in his own right, which also shed light unto the main series.... except when they don't, such as here.The primary issue with Orb sceptre Throne, is that it all builds up to nothing. We get a slow buildup as a ancient tyrant is freed from a tomb, and immediately sets out to reclaim Darujhistan, and to take over Genibackis. The remaining Bridgeburners in the city, still reeling from the assassin's campaign against them in "Toll the hounds" are caught up in the middle of this, as are a few dozen other familiar faces. Antsy goes to poke around in the wreckage of moon's spawn, and is marooned in the ruins. There are a few other interesting storylines involving the Seguleh, Kiska and Leoman, humble measure, and even Karsa is briefly mentioned. For an opportunity to spend more time with the often critically underused characters, particularly the bridgeburners, the book is a must. But in terms of actual plot it is hopelessly weak. The book spends two thirds of itself building to a complete damp aqib of climax, that comes too fast , repeats the less gory half of capustan (I.e a giant bubble shield... sadly no cannibal peasants or heroic sacrifices here) combined with shadows of the apt (Air raids and giant insects... eat your heart out Adrian), at which point the tyrant gives us a vauge, moronic non answer and disappears, leaving us wondering exactly what the plot was all about. Most of the other storylines peeter out, the Moon's spawn being the most disappointing, as it spends most of the book keeping us in suspense about an object that the blurb tells us about, and then never tells us if it's actually there or not (Unlike the blurb, I am not telling you), and all so Antsy can pop back to Darujhistan to watch the climax, having achieved exactly nothing. To make matters even worse, the final part of the book, which I shall reference only as the word T'renn, seems to be important, but the book being set between "Dust of dreams" and "The Crippled god", one would think that it would have some bearing on the plot of the finale, but it is never mentioned again.So, in short, the book is welcome time spent with pre-existing characters, the seguleh and some of the other storylines are not bad, but it all builds up to nothing, and a return to normality with little changed. Admirable effort, but we know that you are capable of better mr Esselmont. Keep trying.

This is less of a novel than a set of unconnected stories.We follow the Bridgeburners in one story, Kiska and Leoman in another and Antsy and Orchid in another, there is nothing really to tie them together.For all that it is interesting, we get to see resolutions for several things left open after the main Malazan series.The characters are all likeable enough, many of them familiar, and there is some humour from the Bridgeburners and Leoman.There is plenty of action and a few twists right up until the end.It is an interesting read but the lack of a coherent plot stops it from being really good, a decent collection of short stories rather than a novel.

This to me is ICE's best Malazan book to date, and as good as anything Erikson has done too.The plot in some ways is a little samey as elements we have seen before - another Tyrant emerges from the ground near Darujhistan and starts taking over the city and region, causing a gradual convergence of forces and powerful individuals, but the reader's interest is really piqued by lots of involvement of the till-now quite mystical masked swordsmen, the Seguleh, plus a healthy dose of the most enjoyable Kruppe and 2 good side adventures - the exploration/looting of Moon's Spawn, and Kiska's continued quest to find and retrieve Tayschrenn.I for one was glad for a Malazan book without the heavy layers of darkness and malaise that I felt clouded the last 4 or 5 from Erikson.In all I thought the book gave lots of new insight and useful background on the Malazan world and dramatis personae, and I feel ICE has really grown in confidence and trully come out of the shadows of Erikson, with a complementary writing style that is similar enough to allow the reader to forget differences in author and just enjoy another top-notch Malazan book.

I love the world of the malazans. I really enjoyed this book but found the plot jumping from story line to story line very distracting. I would keep forgetting the relevance of their inclusion to the story line. Certain story lines were a little unbelievable. Like caladan brood having big life changing thoughts then traveling days to get to the city to only break a marble circle then head off whilst all the fighting was taking place in the citadel....im sure, knowing him like he has been portrayed in previous books he would of gone in and seen what was happening, maybe even, at least having a cuppa before heading back out into the wilds.

Having just finished this book on my Kindle I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it. .The story centers on the rise of another Tyrant in Darujhistan, and the machinations that follow. In true Malazan style, some very important events are only hinted at (see the fate of the Imperial High Mage), presumably to be covered in more detail in later books. Also, as other reviewers have pointed out, the enmity between the Seguleh and the Moranth is not explained very well. Esslemont's Kruppe, on the other hand, seems to be spot on, at times even outshining Erikson's handling of the character in Gardens of the Moon. The action scenes, as is usual for the Malazan books, are excellent. Esslemont manages to avoid the relentlessly bleak, self introspective writing style of Erikson's work, where every single character seems secretly to be a philosopher poet burdened by hidden guilts. At the same time, he introduces a host of old and new characters, weaving multiple plot threads without losing focus of the overall story.All in all, an excellent book, and one I'd definitely recommend to both Malazan fans, and given the relatively stand alone nature of the book, to new readers too.